Naru was once again by the koi pond in the Uchiha compound. However, instead of apathy and helplessness, this time Naru was consumed with anxiety, self-loathing, and doubt. Naru was lightly rocking where she sat, fingers twitching with poorly-contained anxiety.

Naru wanted to bite her fingernail, but she knew how much it meant to Sasuke to see his family polish on her and Sakura's nails. She couldn't take that away from him.

She hadn't slept a wink since she'd gotten home from the hotel two nights before. She'd tried, but every time she closed her eyes she was assaulted by images of previous attacks. They were more vivid than they'd been in years. Even now she could hear echoes of laughter and screams waiting to consume her.

Naru's eyes slid down to her arm in consideration. She needed to get a grip. Yesterday Sasuke had touched her shoulder and she'd flinched. And though he'd tried to hide it she knew Sasuke had been hurt. She knew what she could do and that it would help tremendously, but she was reluctant. She'd already suffered so many setbacks, did she really want another one?

Naru shook her head, trying to focus on something, anything else. She pulled her hair in frustration and that proved to be her undoing. She could feel the panic and memories come welling up, and before she could stop herself, she was biting, hard, into the meat of her arm.

The relief was immediate. The flash of pain helped clear her head and the pressure helped steady her. She knew she should feel ashamed for giving into her craving, but it was such an intense relief to feel calm and centered for the first time in several weeks. She gently rocked her jaw from side-to-side to agitate the wound. Kurama couldn't heal it with her teeth still there and she relished the sensation.

Naru almost fell asleep like that but jolted up when she felt Sasuke approaching. She quickly wiped her arm free of saliva so there wouldn't be any cause for suspicion. She couldn't share this with anyone. It wouldn't be fair to burden them further. Sakura was already blaming herself for not noticing her eating disorder sooner and for not being able to help Naru overcome it. Sasuke blamed himself for what Itachi did and Kakashi was already on the brink of going on a murder spree, He'd become very cut-off from the rest of the village since training Team Seven. He was constantly stuck wondering who around him had participated in his student's torment. And he couldn't bring himself to bond with them or have any kind of genuine experience not knowing that crucial detail. She wouldn't make it worse. And she'd already given Shikamaru nightmares.

A more selfish part of her knew that they would want her to stop and she did not want to. She wasn't going to let them take this away from her.

When Sasuke found Naru by the koi pond he was relieved. She looked more aware and alert than she had since before Itachi's attack. He'd been really concerned yesterday by her odd behavior, so he was happy to see she was back to her old self.

Naru felt great. It was easier to smile and joke with Sasuke as they made their way to the kitchen. Sakura and Kakashi were already there and were just as relieved to see Naru in such high spirits.

Naru was proud of how steady she felt around the food. She took a hearty portion of plain rice, but to everyone's surprise and delight she also took a bowl of miso soup. The meal started out well and Naru had no trouble getting the food down. When she turned to the miso her stomach twisted a little in anticipation, but Naru bit down on her tongue and the pain was enough to center her and she was fine. Sakura was so overjoyed that Naru had managed to eat more and was happy they were able to start making progress again.

Eager to try and capitalize on this success, Sakura suggested they all head to the market. Naru had a good eye for produce (she could tell how recently something had been harvested by how much nature energy still clung to the plant) but they were still working on animal products. Naru had some very bad experiences with milk that had gone off, so she tended to avoid anything with it.

Sakura was in the middle of trying to teach Naru a jutsu she'd learned in the hospital that allowed you to scan for harmful bacteria when a loud cry of "Sakura!" caught their attention.

They all looked over to see Team Gai across the street. Lee was waking enthusiastically to get the girl's attention. Gai looked excited as well, though perhaps more subdued than usual, while Tenten looked exasperated. Neji had no expression on his face and gave no sign of acknowledgement towards them.

Lee fawned over Sakura for a while, Sakura looking a little uncomfortable at the shower of compliments, but still flattered at being acknowledged. When he was done with that, Lee turned to Naru. He hadn't really seen Naru since their training trip and he was anxious for a spar.

"Yosh!" Lee cheered. "I challenge you to a spar! Let us pit our strengths against one another in an explosion of youth!"

Naru sighed. She liked Lee and Gai and she liked training with them, but her recent brush with malnutrition had caused her to lose a fair bit of muscle mass and she wanted to be back in top condition before she started pushing herself.

"Not today," she said, "maybe next week."

"That is most unyouthful!" Lee declared. "We are full of the springtime of youth and must always be ready to explode into action at any time."

Before Naru had a chance to say anything, Neji cut in, "Leave her be, Lee."

Naru and Lee weren't the only ones staring at the boy in confusion or surprise. "She said she didn't want to spar with you. That you continue to press her on the subject is nothing short of disgraceful." Neji said in his usual acerbic manner.

Lee deflated at the rebuke, slinking back towards his team. Sakura expected Naru to stand up for Lee, Neji's comment had been a bit of an overreaction after all, but Naru wouldn't look at Neji. Actually, it looked like they were both avoiding looking at each other. What in the world? Sakura thought. It had only been two days, what could have happened for such a major attitude shift?

Naru tugged on Sasuke's sleeve, trying to urge the group to move on. Sasuke was just as confused at the unusual behavior but was unwilling to push quite yet. Sakura was reluctant to move on without some answers, but she let herself be led away.

Over the teens' heads Gai directed a questioning look at Kakashi to see if he knew the reason for their students' strange behavior, but Kakashi was equally lost. He shrugged but made a note to find out what was going on.

Team Seven hurried back to the Uchiha Compound and put away the groceries they'd managed to buy before Sakura began the interrogation.

"What in the world was that about?" Sakura asked.

Naru didn't want to expose Neji's secret so she simply said, "Perhaps he was having a bad day."

Sasuke was staring at Naru's face, trying to watch for tells. "Did he do something to you?" The two had seemed to get along well enough before, Neji had even offered to—

"Did you two have sex?" Sasuke blurted out in shock, and then immediately wanted to smack himself for the lack of tact.

Naru was surprised at first, but quickly became suspicious. "How do you know that?"

Sakura and Kakashi gaped at the girl in shock. They'd what?!

Sasuke was just as in shock. And also a little mad. "You slept with the Hyuga? What about Shikamaru?"

Naru titled her head, confused. "What about him?"

Sakura couldn't believe how callous Naru was being. "You cheated on Shikamaru?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

Naru looked even more confused. "I haven't taken any tests lately." She said.

The apparent non sequitur threw Sakura a bit. "What?"

"I haven't taken any tests," Naru repeated. "So, I haven't cheated."

Sakura was no longer shouting. She was still angry, but also confused. It felt like she and Naru were having two different conversations. "You slept with Neji." She said carefully.

"And you are dating Shikamaru."

"Yes."

Sakura looked at a loss as to where to go from here. She turned to her team, but they were just as lost. Kakashi was a little disturbed knowing one of his students had had sex with Gai's student but knew this wasn't the time. He also couldn't help wondering if either teen was actually ready to have sex.

Sasuke couldn't believe he was the responsible one right now. Who thought him being the most level-headed person in the room was a good idea?

"Naru," he said carefully, not sure what to expect, "when people are dating they aren't supposed to be with other people. If you slept with Neji that means you were unfaithful to Shikamaru."

Naru shook her head. "That can't be true. I see people I know are in relationships with other people all the time."

Sakura cleared her throat, a little embarrassed. "It's different when sex is involved. You're not supposed to do relationship things with other people."

Naru shook her head again. "I see people in relationships with other people all the time!" She insisted. "Do you remember Emi from the Academy?" At Sakura's bewildered nod she continued. "Her dad spends the night with one of the prostitutes all the time! And her mom is sleeping with one of the other teachers at the Academy. They meet up at one of the cheap motels where you pay by the hour."

Sometimes it was easy to forget that Naru had grown up in the red-light district without a responsible guardian. Sakura and Sasuke exchanged desperate looks, completely at a loss as to how to proceed. Kakashi gulped, realizing that he was somehow the responsible in the house (who in the world thought that would be a good idea?) and tried to gird himself.

"Naru," he started awkwardly, wishing desperately to be anywhere else but here, "the red-light district is a law onto itself. People do a lot of things there that they would never do anywhere else. I think its safe to say that most of what happens there is something people know full well they shouldn't be doing."

Naru's brows furrowed. "So," she said slowly, unsure about what she was saying, "because Shikamaru and I are dating I'm not supposed to have sex with anyone but Shikamaru?"

"Exactly," Kakashi said, relieved to not have to explain further.

"And its bad if someone has sex with someone other than the person they're in a relationship with?"

Kakashi didn't think now would be the right time to tell her about threesomes or open relationships, so he simply said, "Yes."

Naru frowned and then turned to Sakura. "And if I know about someone "cheating" should I tell someone?"

Sakura was confused about why Naru had chosen to ask her specifically, but decided to answer as best she could. "That's a good question. A lot of people feel that what's going on isn't there business and they should just stay out of it. But I think its important to call people out on their bad behavior. If I had a boyfriend who was cheating on me, I'd want to know."

Kakashi and Sasuke glanced at each other, incredibly uncomfortable being stuck in an impromptu girl talk session.

Naru nodded. "Okay. Then you should know, you father is a frequent customer for two prostitutes I know. They like him because he's a big tipper."

Sakura froze before letting out a shaky breath. She was not expecting to hear that. She'd known her parents didn't have the best relationship, but she'd never expected either of them of being capable of destroying their family.

Sasuke and Kakashi were looking anywhere but at the girls. Sasuke had the vague feeling that he should probably try and say something to comfort Sakura, but what?

Sakura, trying to think of anything to try and change the subject, went back to the subject at hand. "We got off topic," she said, shaking her head. "You had sex with Neji. And now you guys can't look at each other. What happened?"

Naru shifted, not liking where this was going, but realizing she wouldn't be able to get out of it. She levelled Sasuke with a look, "We're still going to talk about how you knew that," she said seriously, before turning to face the group. "Look, we had sex and it didn't really go very well. We both had flashbacks and things happened that I don't really want to get into." Naru got quiet. Even though she'd been trying to avoid looking at Neji she'd seen the guilt and shame just beneath the surface and the way he'd also been avoiding her. It was clear that she'd missed something when she'd had her little freak out. Voice morose, she said, "I think we hurt each other."

Sakura reached out to hug Naru while Sasuke wordlessly offered his support. Kakashi sighed, running his hand through his hair. What a mess. It seemed he and Gai were really going to have to sit down with their students and address this. He'd been hoping to avoid that if at all possible.

"What happened?" Sakura asked. What Naru had described sounded so out of control and violent. How had things gotten that far out of hand?

Naru shook her head firmly. "That's between me and Neji. I won't gossip about what happened. Things didn't go well and that's all I am going to say about it."

Sakura really wanted to push the issue. It hurt to know that Naru was keeping things from them, but she understood her wanting to respect Neji's privacy.

Sasuke could see that Sakura really was struggling not to butt in so he stepped in to point out the problem they'd seemed to forget about.

"You're going to have to tell Nara about this."

Naru blinked, taking a minute to remember what they'd been talking about before. Naru nodded and decided to just get it over with.

XXXX

Naru was sitting in a tree watching Team Ten train. She'd gone to find Shikamaru and found him with his team. She knew Asuma was aware of her presence and when he was satisfied she wasn't there in an official capacity he'd continued with his plans for the day. Team Ten didn't have anywhere near the stamina of Team Seven so she didn't have to wait too long before training was over for the day.

Naru hopped down from the tree, surprising Shikamaru. He was relieved to see she was no longer mute and withdrawn, in fact she looked more like herself than she had in weeks. He took her hand and they walked to the clearing where they usually had their sealing lessons. Naru gestured for Shikamaru to sit down, but stopped him from fully reclining, which put him on edge.

Naru looked into Shikamaru's eyes, concerned about the pain she was about to cause him.

"I need to tell you something and its going to hurt you. Please believe me when I say that it was never my intention to hurt you."

Now Shikamaru was worried. He'd already heard so many awful things that had been done to her, what could she possibly add?

"I slept with someone two days ago," Naru said.

It was like time had stopped as Shikamaru stared at Naru in dumb shock, At first he thought he must have simply misheard her, but no matter how he trying to spin it he couldn't think of anything she could have been trying to say.

"What?" he croaked; voice suddenly dry.

Naru winced at the sound of his voice. "I slept with someone," she repeated.

Shikamaru felt like someone had punched him right in the gut. He felt off balance and slow as his brain tried to process the information.

"Okay?" he said slowly. It didn't really feel real, kind of like he was in a trance. He looked around the clearing, trying to ground himself in reality. He squeezed her hand, grateful for the steadying pressure when out of nowhere it was like the bubble around him popped.

Shikamaru ripped his hand away from Naru, his brain whirling as thoughts and emotions bombarded him from all sides. He felt angry, hurt, betrayed, bewildered and a confusing arrange of emotions he couldn't name. It had been a bit of a blow to his pride to find out Naru had a crush on his dad of all people, but at least he knew that nothing would ever happen between them, but now she was sleeping around? Was he that undesirable that she kept wanting other people?

He said as much and Naru immediately protested. "It's not like that! When I saw your dad, I was thinking about how you'd probably look like him when you're older. And I'm not attracted to the guy I slept with. Well," Naru muttered, getting a little distracted, "I guess he is objectively really attractive, Sakura described him as an Adonis once," seeing the anger and disbelief in Shikamaru's face Naru winced and tried to refocus, "it was just an experiment," she finished lamely.

Shikamaru's temper flared. "An experiment?" he spat. "You call cheating on me an experiment?"

Naru grimaced. Definitely the wrong word to use. "I didn't know it was cheating."

Shikamaru wanted to yell some more, but the sincerity was enough for him to pause. "What do you mean?" He asked, suspicious.

Naru rushed to explain, grateful he was listening. "I didn't know being in a relationship meant you weren't supposed to sleep with other people." At Shikamaru's blatant disbelief she went on. "I grew up in the red-light district. It was completely normal to see people who were married or in relationships come through with other people to visit the pay-by-the-hour motels or pick up prostitutes for the night. So, I never realized that that wasn't how relationships were. I wanted to try having sex and I knew you weren't ready, so I went to someone else. I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to."

Shikamaru looked at Naru for a long moment before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. Naru's explanation seemed genuine which helped soothe the anger he felt at the betrayal, but the hurt remained. It helped to know that Naru hadn't been trying to hurt him by sleeping with someone else, but the fact remained that she had still done it. And maybe she had been trying to not pressure him or something, but he still thought this was something that could have been easily avoided if she'd talked to him about what she was thinking or feeling.

He looked at Naru, taking in the guilt on her face and sighed. "I don't know where to go from here," he said, feeling a little guilty when he saw the dejection in Naru's face. "I can accept that you weren't trying to hurt me or go behind my back, but you clearly don't trust me." He held up a hand to halt her protest. "You don't. You never mentioned wanting to try sex to me and you never mentioned that you were thinking of having sex with someone else. You didn't tell me because you don't trust me. You never have," he finished bitterly.

"That's not true," Naru insisted, tears in her eyes. Shikamaru was one of the very few people she did trust. It wasn't easy or natural for her to open up to others. It took quite a lot out of her to talk about her past and offer her thoughts. "You have no idea how much I trust you. I've told you so many things that I would rather just not talk about. I've talked to you about my team and myself, shared things I've never discussed with anyone else. You're right, I never talked to you about sex, but I was afraid that if you knew I wanted to have sex you would do it because you know about my past and you would want me to have a positive experience even though you aren't ready. And I didn't want to put you in that position."

Shikamaru hated himself for the tears in her eyes but pressed on. "I don't know if I can trust you," his voice was ragged. "I know there are still things you're keeping from me because you think I'm not ready to hear it. But I don't need you to protect me. I want to know who you are and how you think. I can't do that if you keep holding out on me. I can't keep going at this blind."

Naru's heart felt like it was being crushed. She really liked Shikamaru and she liked being in a relationship with him. "You don't know what you're asking for," she warned him. If there was one thing that frustrated her about Shikamaru and her team it was the fact that they were always so optimistic. She'd tell them something awful and every time they'd think they knew the worst of it and then they'd be so surprised every time they found out there was more and it started all over again.

Shikamaru reached over and cupped Naru's cheek. His own chest was painfully tight. "I don't know if I can keep doing this," he said quietly, hating the flinch she tried to hide. "I really like you. You are the craziest, most troublesome and unpredictable person I have ever met and it should have me running headlong in the opposite direction, but I can't seem to get enough when it comes to you."

Shikamaru's head fell forward until it plopped against Naru's shoulder. He knew in that moment he would never be able to leave this girl, no matter what she did. "I need a few days to think about things. Knowing that you went to another guy behind my back hurts. I can't be calm and rational about it right now and I don't want to say something I'll regret later. Just give me some pace and I'll find you when I'm ready."

Shikamaru stood, pulling away from Naru even as she tried to hold on. He forced himself not to look at her because if he looked into those crystal blue eyes he knew he wouldn't be able to leave. If he had looked back he would have seen the tears pouring down Naru's face and the blood streaming down her arms.

Naru felt like she couldn't breathe past the crushing pain in her chest. Naru bit her arm, relishing the burning sting and slowly she was able to calm down. When she finally felt relatively stable she looked down. There was a small puddle of blood beneath her and her shorts and legs were stained red. She'd have to be careful when she got back to the compound or she'd have some awkward questions coming her way.